Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Brush with the Irreligious

It has to be a reflection of my mood and the thought processes resulting in the mood that I feel like posting on abstract thoughts - I call them abstract because there is no rhyme or rhythm to the flow of the thoughts. Just a strange twist in the road, that makes you stop, stare and then vocalise the impulses currently running through the nuts and bolts that keep your thoughts within the larger area of your head.

By now most people that read me occasionally or more regularly (which are a few loyal ones and I love you loads)know that I'm a Malayali from the red-red Kerala. Communism and socialistic ideals flow through the blood, however much we say our politics veer more to the right than the left, the culture of the Malayali society largely tends towards one that is shorn of devout religiosity.( There is a need for a big rejoinder here, like most communist states where the irreligious ruled roost for decades leading to the emergence of ultra-conservative religious patterns, Kerala too is seeing a disturbing trend towards a strain of communalism - worrying and thought-provoking!) The two biggest festivals of Kerala are Onam and Vishu - the traditional harvest and New Year celebrations - and these two festivals are celebrated across the world by Malayalis - irrespective of caste, creed and community. So these thoughts might have influenced my take on spirituality and the irreligious.

In our society, a lot of words are loosely used to mean the other - religion and spirituality is perhaps the best examples. A lot of people say "I'm spiritual" when they mean "I am religious" because "religion" somehow has a more conservative, narrow-minded connotation to it. However that does not justify how being religious can mean being spiritual. On the other hand, I believe there is a strong case to be made for being spiritual despite feeling irreligious. I think I'm increasingly turning spiritual and irreligious. So today, when I read a friend's message that said Spirituality is an appointment with yourself, I was thrilled.

I related to that. But somehow, the statement that appealed to the irreligious in me, somewhere presents a large contradiction. If you call spirituality an appointment with yourself, then isn't that kind of like an indulgence?? I deliberately take out the term self from before indulgence, primarily because indulgence too is an appointment with yourself. You indulge someone to gather some happiness for yourself in the bargain too!  It is the extent of pampering perhaps that differentiates indulgence from self-indulgence.

In India, where separating spiritualism from religion is considered next to impossible, we need to look for better definitions. Look at reason why people seek out religion? I have a simplistic reasoning. I consider it original because I arrived at it. I might be regurgitating what someone very very wise has said better, but in my space, let me present my take. We are conditioned from very young to crave a bigger power's benevolence - to watch over us, to hold our hand, to show us the right from the wrong. I think religion gives you the way to attaining the realisation that at the end of the path to enlightenment is the harnessing of your mental energy to make life's choices work out best for you. We are often happy to believe that the good that happens in our life is a fruit of our labour. On the other hand, no one wants to be told it is their idiocy that landed them in bad times. We'd rather believe in our naivete and think of bad times as tests set by a bigger power. So instead of setting two different question papers for the tests of life, you set one, make God the invigilator and the marker of your paper and dedicate good and bad performance to His tutoring.

Turning to God is in fact turning inwards, checking for resources within to pull yourself out. I believe my theory makes sense and brings solace to my search for meaning in life because I see God not helping those that leave everything to Him and do little about it. You don't really have to profess leaving everything to Him, but if you gather your inner resources together and work out a problem, you will feel the presence of a higher power guiding your decisions. That power is nowhere exterior, it could well lie within you. A bit of divinity, a bit of godliness - all within a soul that is not in an elevated sense of existence.

We live, we love, we desire, we crave, we anguish and pine - the positive emotions guide us higher, the negatives pull us down. However, the negatives are necessary to make the positives look incandescently bright. I think we cling hard to negative emotions like hate and disgust and hide behind morality ( often without inherently prescribing to it!) because the fear of a higher power or the worry of retribution is the safety mechanism some wise old men devised centuries ago to keep the flock in line. After all, a social animal is one that has the intense need to conform. If ten people do something a certain way, the eleventh one is intrigued to try the same formula because he knows it is tried and tested, it appears to have worked for ten, so why not for the eleventh and so on!

If you were to blame your mistakes on no one, but just dust yourself up and move on in just the same way you'd pat yourself on the back for a success and move on, then life will get easier. Why should we all adhere to the same structured sense of propriety or seek the customised logos that our social groups long to give us? Why do we need prototypes of dumb and dumber??

This is my brush with the irreligious but deeply spiritual. The Spirit in me is happy and at peace and my life, I'd rather was an experiment in the spiritual rather than the religious!!

12 comments:

  1. Deepthi, you have me stumped here! Didn't know you could be so philosophical. And you have dwelled on threads more than one. I believe in quite a few things you said there one of it being that religion does serve as a tool of social control although its effectiveness has come down drastically over the times. Then there is the thought that but for the darkness, we would never appreciate the meaning of light. Ever thought what Nietzsche meant when he said 'God is dead?' (Yes, I am trying to impress you!) Obviously, he meant that belief of people in God, or whatever is good, is dead....

    Forgive me for being dense! :-D

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    1. While at university, I did do a paper on Dialogue between civilisations and much reverred and maligned men like Nietsche, Said and Huntington's theories formed the backbone for fierce discussions on god, religion and civilisations. :) I do on occasions wander into realms that I normally keep away from my rather mundane blog. But the line that Spirituality is an appointment with yourself was a very provocative one and suffice to say, led me on a desire to pen what I really think of a rather controversial subject.

      As always, glad to read your perspective USP..:D

      PS: Which part was dense?? :)

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  2. Gosh you sure are philosphical...I must admit here that I read through the post twice and there are still parts I am trying to grasp! I guess one thing I agree to you totally is being religious is not the same as being spiritual..there is a LOT of difference between the two and yet people often confuse them for being the same...

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    1. I must have been in a highly introspective frame of mind that day to post such a deep-pondering post. Maybe if you try to read the post again some other day, you might get another meaning that maybe I missed..Do try, its good fun to get other people's thoughts and work around it..:) And I agree, people loosely use spiritual for religious and vice versa..

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  3. It is good to see realization of philosophy behind religion so early, Deepthy:)Turning inwards and searching for answers is what every religion teaches . Unfortunately the merchants of religion are the ones who profess herd mentality what you enlightened us with in this succinct post!

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    1. totally agree with you on that, Rahul! I think we need to have introspections time and again, at different stages of life, so that we are clear in our heads and communicate clear ideas and paths of thinking to the younger generations too...

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  4. I have to agree with R's mom, I read the post twice! Hard hitting and philosphical. Thin line there between spirituality and religion in we Indians, but your thought about turning inwards and searching makes the distinction very clear. Insightful!

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    1. Thanks a ton Jenny, so happy to hear from all of you, though such a late reply, kind of spoils the fun of discussion and debate! :)

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  5. //..the fear of a higher power or the worry of retribution is the safety mechanism some wise old men devised centuries ago to keep the flock in line.//
    Don't you think belief that evolves out of fear leads to radical beliefs and practices in the name of God and Religion and these shackles become hard if not impossible to break especially by God fearing people.
    I am an atheist and I know people are cynical when they hear that and think whoever says that ,does so because it is considered fashionable.
    I personally feel religion ,if at all should be an extremely personal thing to follow in private,behind closed doors .Do you think religion is necessary for our existence as good humans ? Would love to hear your take.
    Agree with you completely about spirituality.Looking inwards ,talking to your own soul and not hurting anyone knowingly is what is important.

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    1. No, I agree with you, you don't need to be religious to be a good human being, but the problem is our sense of good and right is dictated by our sense of piety and devoutness..Our highest form of praise happens to be He is a dear child of God, or later when he is no more 'Woh Bhagwaan ko pyaare ho gaye'...We need to use another power to explain the good and the bad, what we want and what we don't..I guess that's where religion becomes important..to keep the flocks flocking together, rather than venturing out on their own...

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  6. Jisha Kishore Kumar3 June 2012 at 12:34

    Deepthy, Too heavy for me to comprehend...:)

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    1. :( Please read it again..it isn't too complicated...I was just trying to differentiate between religiousness and spirituality..:)

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